Rail Minister Officially Opens Werrington Tunnel
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Werrington Tunnel, an underground freight tunnel running beneath the East Coast Main Line near Peterborough, has been formally opened by Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris.
A key step in the £1.2bn East Coast upgrade, the opening of the tunnel allows for freight services to be ran underneath the main rail artery, significantly improving passenger service reliability on the East Coast Main Line.
I also think, that the tunnel will be used creatively by passenger and freight operators.
Electrification
There is a possibility that the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Line (GNGE) between Werrington and Doncaster via Lincoln could be electrified.
- It would allow the many freight trains using the route to be hauled by electric locomotives.
- It would create a by-pass for the East Coast Main Line during engineering works, that could be used as a diversion route by electric trains.
- Werrington and Lincoln are just over fifty miles and might be handled by battery-electric trains, if the GNGE were to be partially electrified.
According to one report, the Werrington Tunnel has been readied for electrification, should that be decided.
An Improved Peterborough And Lincoln Service
In the past, I have travelled between London and Lincoln with a change at Peterborough. In one case, I just missed my connection, as it was a long crowded walk between the two platforms.
The Werrington Tunnel will enable trains to and from Lincoln to use platforms on the West side of Peterborough station.
Train times and platform allocations could be arranged to make connections at Peterborough easier.
A London And Lincoln Service Via Spalding And Sleaford
There are two possible routes between London King’s Cross and Lincoln
- The current LNER service leaves the East Coast Main Line at Newark.
- An alternative route would leave the East Coast Main Line at Peterborough and be routed via the Werrington Tunnel, Spalding and Sleaford.
These notes apply to the alternative route.
- The Lincoln service wouldn’t call at Grantham and Newark.
- Some services could also call at other stations.
- The current hourly Peterborough and Lincoln service via Spalding is run by a Class 153 train , which stops four times and takes fourteen minutes longer than LNER’s service via Newark.
- An easy connection to and from Skegness could be arranged at Spalding,
LNER also plans to extend some Lincoln services to Grimsby Town and Cleethorpes. Timings will dictate which will be the better route.
The Werrington Tunnel would add a large degree of flexibility in routing services between London King’s Cross and Lincoln and Lincolnshire.
Splitting And Joining At Peterborough
If the Werrington Tunnel makes Lincoln timings via Spalding and Sleaford viable, I wonder if it would be possible for trains to split and join at Peterborough.
- One train would go to Lincoln via the Werrington Tunnel, Spalding and Sleaford.
- The other might go North to Bradford, Hull, Middlesbrough, Scarborough or York.
The Werrington Tunnel again adds flexibility.
A Round-The-Wash Service Between Doncaster And Ipswich/Norwich
In Is There A Case For A Round-The-Wash Service Between Doncaster And Ipswich/Norwich?, I suggested this service, which would be an hourly Doncaster and Cambridge service via Scunthorpe, Grimsby Town Cleethorpes, Lincoln, Sleaford, Spalding, Werrington Tunnel and Peterborough that would alternatively extend to Ipswich or Norwich.
The Werrington Tunnel again opens up possibilities.
Conclusion
I’m sure that the Werrington Tunnel and the technology that built it will be imitated elsewhere.
The Anonymous Widower 
One problem that I can see with the Round-the-Wash service is that even with the proposed Ely track & station improvements current proposals for new services and service frequency improvements seem to eat up pathing capacity gains at the station.
Given the short passenger units running the Peterbro’ – Ely route I have wondered if there is any merit in reorganising the current services & those over GNGE to join/split at Peterborough to improve passenger capacity with the paths available. e,g. Skegness combines into Ipswich service or Nottingham joins Birmingham – Stansted.
Possibly various services could join differently in alternate hours to preserve end to end one seat travel.
No doubt extra platform provision would be required at Peterborough but then I have seen that proposed anyway.
Also deciding who becomes the service provider could prove tricky
Comment by Fenline Scouser | December 9, 2021 |